The Lopez basketball girls just trounced Tahola High School, District 4’s number one team, to win the Regional competition and move on to state championship playoffs. They will play Colombia High School in Spokane on Thursday, March 3 at 12:15 p.m.
“This is history-making… it’s a huge deal,” said coach Debbie Buffum.
“The last time a [Lopez] girls team ever went to state was in 1982,” added Lopez athletic director Mitch Altona.
The Regional game is a new step between Tri-Districts and state. The Lobos beat Taholah 46-29.
“The Lopez girls started out strong and never looked back,” said Altona.
Both the Lopez boys and girls teams competed at the Tri District tournament on Friday, Feb. 18 at Mt. Lake Terrace High School.
The girls finished second in the tournament. They began by taking down Mt. Rainier Lutheran from the SeaTac league, then soundly beat Highland Christian. They finally conceded a tough game to Neah Bay, 45-33.
“The championship game was magnificent,” said Buffum. “We played the best team on this side of the state and played them close the whole game… the girls played absolutely brilliantly.” She said the Lobos held Neah Bay to its lowest scoring game all year.
Sarah Stanley had 16 points and Eryn Dye had eight points and 12 rebounds.
“Patience Taylor did a great job working with Sarah and Eryn breaking Neah Bay’s stifling presses,” said Buffum. “I set goals for the girls in this game. If they beat us from the outside, good on them, but we would not get beat inside, on the boards or by not taking care of the ball… we exceeded all those goals. I couldn’t be more proud.”
“We [had] faced Neah Bay towards the end of the season and knew we would be in for a battle,” said Lopez athletic director Mitch Altona. “They beat us the first time, so we knew what needed to
be worked on. Lopez came out with confidence and played our game. We slowed things down and took Neah Bay out of their game. At half time we trailed by four points, which easily could have been Lopez up by 10, if our lay-ins didn’t pop back out. The second half was a back and forth battle until about two minutes left in the game, [when] Neah Bay hit a couple big shots. It was a great game to not only watch but also to coach… Thank you to everybody that came to the game and cheered on the Mighty
Lobos!”
A little team history
“My initial goal was to bring a fractured team back together. This was difficult for the team, but everyone understood that without each other we didn’t stand a chance… This year we started three juniors and two sophomores. It has been a struggle with lack of leadership. We had a rocky road and we constantly had to make adjustments.”
When Buffum began coaching girls varsity two years ago, she had already coached many of the players during her previous two years as the middle school coach.
“Most of the juniors I have had for six seasons,” she said.
“This year’s starting lineup of Marina Steinbrieck and Sarah Stanley, Patience Taylor and Eryn Dye, who all started together last year, was joined by exchange student Nici Schmidt, whose skills and knowledge of the game were much appreciated.
Our bench was a diverse group with a fair amount of playing time going to guard Autumn Gruenwold and Alexa Ogden, who is a super smart utility player who plays every position and has done so all year with injuries… yet she always played through the pain and did what she could.”
Buffum said seniors Maddie Rain and Emily Kohring were both “very important to our team with generally terrific attitudes, always supporting the younger girls.” Stanley and Dye led the team in scoring, with all the other starting players contributing with double digit games, she said.
During regular season play in their competitive league, the girls lost to each team once, but beat each team twice. When their final league game against Tulalip Heritage ended in a tie, their season record against Tulalip decided the league victory in their favor.
“That was a huge accomplishment and a reward for working so hard to come together as a team,” said Buffum.